Fishing floats or bobbers are commonly used in fishing to control the depth at which a baited hook or lure is suspended and to indicate when a fish has taken the hook. When a fish takes the bait or lure, the attached bobber will move, alerting the fisherman to the presence of a fish on the line. Various conditions and types of fishing call for various sizes and types of bobbers. Specific types of floats or bobbers include foam, crappie, panfish and torpedo. Some floats are particularly adapted for night fishing by being equipped with lighting apparatus for improved visibility at night.
The advantages of night fishing have long been recognized since many species of fish feed well into the night or early in the morning before the sun rises. One example of a night feeding fish is the shovelhead catfish, a.k.a. flathead, yellow cat, and mudcat catfish. These catfish have a homesite where they rest during the day and from which they journey on their nocturnal feeding forays. A submerged stump, a hollow log, a bank den of muskrat or beaver, a pile of boulders or an undercut ledge is an excellent resting site for a shovelhead.
Trotline fishing is a means of assembling many lines at once for fishing, and keeping track of the lines can become a problem, especially at night. The absence of light during night fishing introduces problems which are not experienced during daylight fishing. For a trotline fisherman with many lines in the water, a float serves to indicate where a particular line is located. In addition to the difficulty of locating a float at night, often considerable difficulty is experienced seeing the movement of the float, so that is it difficult to determine if a fish is taking the bait or not. Consequently, previous inventions typically include some type of battery-powered light or fluorescent material attached to the bobber to provide a visual indication of its position during night fishing.
One of the difficulties with the prior art devices which provide light for floats is that some of the devices require bulky batteries to power a light bulb, while others require a unique and/or expensive style of bobber in which to hold the light. Electrical devices are vulnerable to short circuiting in the water, and many of the working parts will rust and cease to function. Floats which are specifically designed to hold chemiluminescent light capsules for night fishing often can only be used at night, and require the fisherman to purchase two sets of equipment, one for day fishing and one for night fishing.
Thus, there is a need for a device to assist the fisherman who is fishing at night to determine where the bobber or float is located. There is also a need for indicating movement of the bobber in the dark so that the night fisherman can recognize that a fish is biting. It would also be advantageous to provide an illumination device for a float that is not battery powered, is light weight, and has very few if any working parts. It would also be advantageous to provide a simple device that can be attached to an existing fishing float or bobber so that the fisherman can use the same equipment while fishing either during the day or at night. It is also desirable to provide a float or bobber that includes a side compartment for a chemiluminescent light to be easily placed so that the bobber can be used day or night. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent with reference to the accompanying specification and claims.